By Gregg Hoffmann Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Jan 27, 2008 at 5:29 AM

You can get collectibles from the great 2008 season through the Packers Pro Shop at Lambeau Field.

You'll also find some vintage Packers' memorabilia at that store, but if you really want to find some good old stuff -- and have a lot of fun hunting for it -- there are other spots in the Green Bay area to go.

Card & Coin/Packer City Antiques on Marlee Lane, west of Lambeau Field, has one of the best collections of old Packers' bobble heads and collectibles from the Lombardi era and earlier.

Old Packers bobblers, in reasonably good shape, are hard to find, but store owner Mike Worachek has them in his store. "I probably have 75 vintage bobbleheads and many more of the more modern ones," said Worachek, who has owned the business for 16 years. "The Favre bobbleheads remain one of my best sellers and go right away."

You'll find plenty of signed memorabilia at the store. The most expensive go for well over $1,000. "I have a signed Ice Bowl program, which runs around $1,300," Worachek said. "I also have some jewelry that was given to employees when they won the championship and is pretty rare. That goes for around $2,150."

There also are reasonably-priced collectibles, both signed and unsigned. Many are vintage, but you also can find relatively recent items, especially anything to do with Brett Favre.

Worachek does indeed have an excellent collection of Packers' cards. In fact, the Cards & Coins section of the store was the original emphasis of the business.

"It was primarily a card and coin shop when I first bought it," Worachek said. "It was only about a third of the size it is now, so I expanded it."

Worachek does not only deal with Packers' collectibles. In fact, the store has had a good inventory of Brewers' bobbleheads -- the 1987 bobblers given away during 2007 and others. You also can find some vintage Braves stuff from the 1950s.

Cards & Coins/Packer City Antiques also sells over the Internet.

Stadium Sports & Antiques on Holmgren Way might have the best collection of Packers' arts and prints in the area. Some are signed. Others are not. Most sell at market value, compared to what you can find on eBay and others.

A highlight of Stadium Sports & Antiques is a life-size ceramic statue of Bart Starr. It truly is impressive in its detail.

Stadium Sports & Antiques also is an authorized Vern Biever dealer. Biever is the longtime photographer for the Packers and has documented the history of the team for decades. The store does a lot of Internet business.

Bay City Cards on Fisk Street offers just what its name implies. You can get cards, vintage and more modern, through the business. Call (920) 499-0660 for more information.

Several other gift stores, and even regular large chain retailers, are stocked up with contemporary merchandise because of the Packers' success this season. And, if course, you can find hundreds of Packers items over eBay and other Internet sites.

The Milwaukee area also has some fine collectibles places that have plenty of Packers' stuff, which will be profiled next season in a column, but what more appropriate place can there be than a store in Green Bay itself. Of course, you have to make the trip north.

The Packers usually rank second or third among NFL franchises in merchandise sales. If you want to find some unique vintage stuff though, check out these stores right in the Green Bay area.

Gregg Hoffmann Special to OnMilwaukee.com
Gregg Hoffmann is a veteran journalist, author and publisher of Midwest Diamond Report and Old School Collectibles Web sites. Hoffmann, a retired senior lecturer in journalism at UWM, writes The State Sports Buzz and Beyond Milwaukee on a monthly basis for OMC.